SPORTS Minister Fikile Mbalula invited the media to attend a probe into the financial affairs of Cricket South Africa in Pretoria yesterday but journalists were then thrown out.

Judge Chris Nicholson, who is heading the probe, threw out all journalists as they arrived, telling them they could get the information from transcripts to be released today.

Nobody at the Department of Sport and Recreation's offices in Queen Street, Pretoria, could tell journalists why they had received a media invitation to an event they could not attend.

Sports ministry spokesman Manase Makwela could not be immediately reached for comment.

It was not clear whether Judge Nicholson - who tossed out the corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in 2008 - had been informed by the ministry that the media would be attending the inquiry.

Mbalula announced the inquiry on November 4 after a KPMG report recommend- ed that CSA's remuneration and travel allowance policy be reviewed, after it found a reported non-disclosure of bonus payments to CSA employees.